A Boy Bitten
by toomanycurls
Summary: A one-shot about Remus being bit as a child and the truth or lies people tell. "Can I see the moon tonight?" Remus' eyes were wide with childlike excitement. Lyall had taken Remus out at night to show him stars and constellations. Hope's description of the full moon made it sound attractive to her son instead of scary and foreboding.


_Truth or lies – when the truth comes to get you pray the lies I tell will save you._

"Baaabb-it-y raaabb-it-y." Little Remus sat on the kitchen floor reading a story to his mum while she made lunch. "and her caaack-l-ing. Mum? What's cack-l-ing?" Remus looked up from his tattered book to mum.

Hope Lupin was at the stove, warming up soup for her son. "It's a type of laugh, an _evil_ laugh." Hope waggled her eyebrows at her son. "You make it like this –" she made her best cackle. As a child, Hope would have added that only evil witches cackle, but now she was a woman married to a wizard and such remarks were superfluous.

Remus imitated his mum's cackle. "Like that, Mum?" Hope smiled at her son nodding. His attention returned to the book, Remus continued, "Cack-l-ing hum-p." Remus continued to read while his soup heated.

When the soup was ready to eat, Hope got a bookmark for Remus. "Let's finish reading Babbity Rabbity later, sweetheart." Placing the book on the table, Remus climbed into his chair.

"Can I read to you after lunch?" Remus had a spoonful of soup that was about to drip onto the table.

"We're sending Grandma Howell a card after lunch, remember?" Remus nodded and slurped his soup. "What do you want to draw for Grandma Howell?" Hope sat next to her son with her soup and tea.

"The park and my new book and the stars!" Remus was losing interest in his lunch and started to eye his crayons. "Mum, will you draw for Grandma Howell?"

Hope let out a light laugh. "No, dear. She wants to see your drawing." Remus was inching off his chair in a hope to sneak to his drawing. "Finish your soup, love. Can't draw on an empty belly."

Remus sighed dramatically. "Okay, Mum."

After lunch, which took a few more reminders to finish, Remus was working on his artwork. "That looks wonderful, Remus." Hope looked up from the Daily Prophet to admire her son's drawing. "Are you going to sign it?"

With an eager head nod, Remus rummaged through his crayon box for the right color. It was pink which caused his mum to grin. "R, for red cap! E, for Erumpent! M, for mermaid! U, for unicorn! S, for sphinx!" Lyall taught Remus to spell his name by teaching him about the magical creatures that shared letters with his name. At the thought of her husband, Hope glanced at the clock anxiously. The day was half over then he'd be home. "Is that good, Mum?

Returning her thoughts to her child, Hope nodded. "Very good, dear." While Remus' handwriting was uneven and in pink crayon, it was very good for a child his age. "Ready to go to the post office?" Hope looked around, Remus was already pulling on his wellies. "Socks, Remus." Hope gently reminded him. Remus pulled off his boot and ran to his room for socks.

Remus was unusually quiet on the way to the post office. Hope wondered if he sensed the danger they were in. "Mum?" Remus had the same tone his father did when he was going to ask a hard question. "Why don't we use our owl to send Grandma Howell cards?" Remus' hard questions were much less difficult than his father's.

_Truth or lies?_

Truth – "Grandma Howell doesn't use owls, love." Remus fell into silence once again. The expression on his face was one of deep thought. On a child it was darling if not humorous. Arriving at the post office, Hope asked Remus if he wanted to put the card in the post for her.

"Yes!" Remus took the card and stood on his tiptoes to open the mail slot. Once the card was gone, Remus looked around for more to do.

"Thank you!" Hope said encouragingly. Her son beamed with pride.

The walk home took them by a park on the other side of the woods by their home. "Mum, can I play?" Hope regretted walking by the park.

"No, dear. We need to go home." Remus looked at the park longingly. "We can play at the park tomorrow."

Remus still had a slight pout on his face. "Yes, Mum." Thankful for a compliant child, Hope led her son to their home. "What's a full moon?" The question came out of nowhere. Had Remus overheard the argument she and Lyall had last night?

"It's when the moon is big and bright in the sky. All of it is showing." Hope tried to hide the fear she felt at this full moon. Lyall warned her there could be danger.

"Can I see the moon tonight?" Remus' eyes were wide with childlike excitement. Lyall had taken Remus out at night to show him stars and constellations. Hope's description of the full moon made it sound attractive to her son instead of scary and foreboding.

"Not tonight, Remus." Hope guided her son into the house and bolted the door behind him.

"Why not?" Remus was pulling off his boots and looking up at his mum brightly.

_Truth or lies?_

Lies – "Mum and Dad will be tired tonight. We can look at it tomorrow, promise." The truth, that a ferocious beast was angry at Lyall and had a reputation for killing children would have terrified Remus. _It was best to save him with lies._

Remus played contentedly until his dad got home. "Dad!" Remus ran up and hugged his dad's legs. Bits of the conversation with his mum that afternoon still nettled him. "Dad, can we look at the moon tonight? It's big, bright, and… BIG."

Lyall gave Hope a sharp look. Out of all the nights, Remus' curious mind waited until _tonight_ to want to look at the full moon. "Sorry, son. I have to go to bed early tonight and so-do-you." Lyall tickled Remus with the last three words, causing peals of laughter from his boy.

"How was everything today, Hopey?" Lyall asked his wife with as much concern as he dared express with their child present. Remus was back to playing with his toy wizards when his mum answered.

"We had a good day, Lyall. Remus and I went to the post office. He made a lovely –" Hope stopped at the look from her husband.

With his voice lowered to not catch Remus' attention, Lyall leaned closer to his wife and said, "were you followed?"

Hope's voice dropped to a whisper as she said tersely, "No, of course not. You didn't expect us to stay cooped up all day, did you?"

Lyall didn't answer her. The man he waged was a werewolf had threatened to make him pay for his anti-werewolf slur. After tonight, Lyall's worries would be gone. He knew they'd catch the man again – hopefully before he maimed another child.

That night Remus insisted on two stories from Lyall before being tucked in. "Tell me about the wizard and the princess." his son asked stretching out.

"Not tonight, Remus. You've had two stories. I have to go tell Mum bedtime stories now." Feeling that his son would start reading once he left the room despite the late hour, Lyall kissed Remus' forehead. "Goodnight, my boy."

Remus was in bed for a few minutes until he heard a noise from outside his window. Being above all thing, curious, Remus went to his window and peered outside. The moon _was_ full. The park he wanted to visit so desperately in the afternoon was just visible beyond the trees behind his house.

The playground equipment glowed in the moonlight. What was it like to see the moon from there? Why had his mum kept him from playing? There _had_ to be something interesting there. Remus was out in his yard slowly walking toward the playground a few moments later. It was within sight of his home; no harm could come to him. Hearing his parents talking in the living room, Remus ran all the way to the carousel and jumped on so it spun with a squeak.

On his back, the night sky was wonderful to look at. Remus giggled as the stars blurred together as he spun. Suddenly there was a growl that caused Remus to sit up and stop the carousel. Looking around, he didn't see anything but felt scared.

The animal was upon Remus before he could climb from the previously fun ride. "MUMMY!" Remus' voice was shrill and echoed around the neighborhood. From a distance, Remus could hear his dad's voice and his mum's shriek. The beast was hurting young Remus. "DADDY!" he managed.

Remus tried to kick and scream but the beast was too strong and he was a small child. The night was getting darker around him. Remus could hear shouts and screams and vaguely saw a bright red light.

His bed was warm and his body felt heavy. The room was blurry. "Mummy?" Remus said meekly. "Dad?" As the room came into focus, Remus realized it wasn't his and he felt fear poke him sharply in the side. "Ouch!" he said loudly. Remus never remembered fear hurting so much.

Voices carried in from the hallway. "This is your fault, Lyall. If you hadn't angered that beast our son would be whole!"

"My fault? You paraded him through the neighborhood. Do you think he found us with divination?"

Remus' eyes filled with tears. He hardly heard his parent fight, let alone yell at one another. A witch came into Remus' room, looked at him, and left. The tears started to roll down Remus' face. "Mr. and Mrs. Lupin, your son is awake."

Hope and Lyall walked into their son's room at St. Mungo's. Hope's face was pale and her eyes red from crying. "Oh, Remus, my sweet boy." Hope sat on her son's bed, unable to stop herself from crying. She had a stuffed animal under her arms. "I got you this, dear." Remus took the rabbit from his mum. It reminded him of Babbity Rabbity.

_Truth or Lies_

Lies – "Don't cry, Mum. I'll be alright."

A/N: I came up with this while thinking through a plot blocking item for a fic I'm writing. I had to get this out of my head before I forgot it. It's not Pottermore compliant but, well, it fits with Remus' self-blame for getting bitten by Fenrir as a child.


End file.
